Tamiya T-55 Enigma - Done & on the base 8/6

Time and effort you're putting in are paying off Marc, nice work roughing up the edges!

This T-55 is looking very nice indeed! the rougher hull looks very accurate to the 1:1 T-55s ive seen up close. Great Work!

wing_nut

Thanks Bill, Eric.

Eric, here is a lnk to my Afghan T-55A and nope... it's not a what if

John, I'll try to get a list worked over the weekend and send it to ya.

Not to Hijack this thread, but wing_nut, i checked out your Afghan T-55, and of course got lured ino looking at the "galleries" section. in your german aircraft, i found the FW-190 Mistel very interesting (with the ME 262s combined with an inner spar between the fuselages and 4 engines clustered beneath) i had never seen that before, very nice work!

Thanks wildchild.  You haven;t seen that because it only existed in the dank and dark recesses of what left of my mind.

lol i see. well i have a feeling the Germans coulda used a mind like that in WWII. pretty neat idea .

speaking of ideas spawned from the dank and dark recesses of ones mind....i should really start working on my "Sledgehammer" again lol.

Marc,looking good.Did you get my e-mail?

John

John, yes I did and will be sneding you an email soon.

Today I had what is hopefully my only Homer Simpson “DOH!” moment for awhile.  I had an idea of how to redo the mantlet cover so I set about making a cast of the one in another T-55 kit from the stash.  Pressed into some Silly Putty and then spent what seemed like forever sanding, filing and trimming to get it to fit the turret from that other T-55 kit.  Then I realized that I really need to make it fit the cover I cut off the Enigma turret.

THEN I realized that what I planned to do to the resin cover I can just as easily do to the cover that is already glued in place.  And that part was never going to come off anyway.

1^st I sanded off the high spots of the folds.  I masked off the turret with Bare Metal foil this because you can burnish down and see exactly where to cut out the part you don’t want.  Then I brushed on some slightly thinned green putty which was then wiped wit a cotton pad wet with acetone.  When this dries I will go over it with a micro mesh sheet to smooth it more.   Doing this took maybe 15 minutes compared to trying to get the resin piece correct to do the same thing.  Like I said… “DOH!”

Marc , thanks for showing your methods .

nice job..

Hey Slick that turned out slick

Tony lee

Don't sweat the "D'OH!" moment Marc! Sometimes the best discoveries come about because of that type of process. Nice work on the dust cover regardless!

Didn't realize it's alomost 2 weeks...

Finally some progress worth taking a few pics.  Been kind of bouncing around in the build order.  I know everything needs to get done but I am not usually so all over the place. 

I cut off the end of the Voyager barrel, added a small section of brass tube and glued on the end of the barrel from the kit.  It was then drilled out with a #34 bit to get it too a scale 100mm.  The bore was just shy of 90mm.  May not be perfect but I think it’s much better than the stock Voyager barrel 

The bits and bobs that I’ve been getting to are new fuel tank and hatch handles, welds, welds and more welds, and making a new lower front glacis since it was easier then cutting of the molded on bolts and filling the holes.

Any progress is good progress Marc!

Nice going Marc :  )

I see you are adding a good bit of hand made detail here !  and you know I got that soft spot for the Russian gear!

cool job on the barrel!

ttread

Hummm....missed this.....glad to see you in the saddle again. Looking good....love the molding work..

Rounds Complete!!

Marc , the results of your modification look spot on . Thats a long a$$ barrel ......................

looking great Marc,need ya to do me a favor I' started the 2 1/2 ton truck you sold me and its missing a outside wheel half for the tandem rear wheels if you come across it thanks

John

Guess I'm late to the party. Ingenious methods of a fix there. Up to your normal high quality work.

Thanks for all the comments guys.  

John… email on the way.

Tread... I know you are the master of all things T-35, does your Russian proficiency extend to the T-55 as well?   I have found out these beasts were based on several different vehicle.  Russian, Czech and Polish.  And of course they each have their own little quirks.  Some parts in the box are good for one and not the other.  The engine deck form the T-55A kit would have been a better place to start.   I am using this one on e the Prime Portal site… http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/jean_thomas_rembert/t-55_enigma/ , A Russian chassis, as my base.  I know things get chopped off these pieces as they sit for years so I am going to get it as close in appearance to that vehicle with an assumption of operational status.  If you see anything that is horrifically out of place… feel free to chime in my friend.

Very nice, wish I'd looked in earlier. I like the CU'ed welds.

Thanks RBaer.  And so many more the need to be CU'ed too.

Looking great especially the barrel!  Still following your build with interest even tho I was not really into post WWII or modern armor but things have changed. 

Thanks Andy.  This was design so close to the end of the war you  can practically call it a WWII tank.

looking really good wing...i know this may not help much but here is a pic i took during desert storm of the real thing.

Cool pic . Looks like a typical day in the sand box over there ...................

Good seeing one of my  ole HLI aquantinances again ..............

camo junkie

Marc:  MODELING OP'!!! look at the sag on those fenders above the drive sprockets, LOVE THAT!!!

That's a nice looking tank in the photo, love to tackle a beast like that for a diorama (but it'd nigh impossible to find 1/35 iraqis)

Also loving the work on the other T55, a very under-appreciated tank in my opinion.

Cool pic CJ.  SMJ, gotta agree that does look cool.  maybe the next Enigma

When my current modeling apathy isn’t strong enough to keep me from the bench, I have been able to make a bit of progress.  It's tough to stay interested when the going is slow.  But I am plugging away.

Added conduits and wiring for the formation lights.  Fuel lines with scratched band clamps.

I used some Plastruc angle strips to make the rail on the rear deck.  The support bar for the rear armor is molded to the back piece and had to be cut off to separate the bocks so the welds could be “uglified”.  A new crossbar was scratched and Tichy bolts added. 

Hey Marc :  ) 

Doing a bang -up job man ! !

What makes these Soviet tanks so cool (aside from how aesthetically pleasing they are ) is all the s 'Stuff ' on the outside . The large amount of fuel lines, wiring, torsion springs for the front fenders ,holders for this, brackets for that, most of which is on the inside of everybody else's tanks. your doing a great job with detail down to minutia.

Keep up the good work,buddy

looking forward to the next installment !

tread

Geeze Marc , you puttin in all of that stuff i never knew was there ..............cool